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Pedro Almodóvar's Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown established its director as one of the most exciting of European filmmaking talents. An often hilarious study of sexual mores, the film has a central character, Pepa (Carmen Maura), as warm and richly drawn as any modern film heroine. Made strong and self-reliant by suffering within marriage, Pepa is the centre of a set of colourful characters which represents a vivid cross-section of Spanish society.

Peter William Evans conducts a formidable analysis of Pedro Almodóvar's insights into gender, sexuality and subjectivity in his film Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. It draws on a range of psychoanalytic and critical concepts, and sees the film as an account of the often tyrannical spell of sexual desire, the anxieties of relationships and families, but also of the possibilities for personal liberation. The author discusses the recent history of Spain and ties the film's concerns in with the social revolution which occurred after the death of Franco.

Pedro Almodóvar's Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown established its director as one of the most exciting of European filmmaking talents. An often hilarious study of sexual mores, the film has a central character, Pepa (Carmen Maura), as warm and richly drawn as any modern film heroine. Made strong and self-reliant by suffering within marriage, Pepa is the centre of a set of colourful characters which represents a vivid cross-section of Spanish society.

Peter William Evans conducts a formidable analysis of Pedro Almodóvar's insights into gender, sexuality and subjectivity in his film Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. It draws on a range of psychoanalytic and critical concepts, and sees the film as an account of the often tyrannical spell of sexual desire, the anxieties of relationships and families, but also of the possibilities for personal liberation. The author discusses the recent history of Spain and ties the film's concerns in with the social revolution which occurred after the death of Franco.